Converting Call of Cthulhu scenarios to Dark Heresy

[Evilref 39]

I'm working my way through Delta Green scenarios and converting them at present but was wondering if anyone else had set about converting CoC scenarios to DH.

 

I'll post the details for my DG conversions when I have them finished.

[Mickymonty 0]

I know that a friend within my gaming group used Delta Green recently to craft a 40K game - I will try and find the name of the scenario seed he used - I do remember that the scenario had a treacherous senior fleet officer, featured Komas, the Tyrant Star, and a final showdown on a space station with a huge statue to the lord of pleasure erected in it.

I believe it was based on a scenario from CoC that had the planet god Ghroth in it amongst other things - but if you are interested, I will try and find out more this week. 

[Wilfred Owen 0]

Evilref said:

I'm working my way through Delta Green scenarios and converting them at present but was wondering if anyone else had set about converting CoC scenarios to DH.

 

I'll post the details for my DG conversions when I have them finished.

You know, I've been considering converting Call of Cthulhu adventures to Dark Heresy for a while now.  I just wish I had my Stars are Right adventure book still.

[Salcor 78]

Call of Cthulhu is definately a good inspiration for Dark Heresy.  I myself am converting some of the adventures for Cthulhu Rising (www.cthulhurising.co.uk) to Dark Heresy adventures.  While there are many similiarities I am starting to think that trying to convert them wholesale over is a little more difficult.  For example, there isn't really a Dark Heresy equivilent of the Migo (at the moment I am thinking of the Slaught for their equivialents).  Unfortunately part of my problem is I want to explain everything when in reality to get the feel for these types of adventures I shouldn't.  At one point there was another thread were someone suggested a conversion process from CoC to Dark Heresy.

 

Salcor

[Bazleebub 118]

Working on the Complete Masks myself!

 

[Evilref 39]

I was thinking Masks would work for a Malleus cult spread across a number of planets.

[Salcor 78]

I have actually been listening through the masks audio game from yog sothoth radio and I was thinking it might be converted well.  The one issue I have with converting CoC adventures is what to treat as xenos and what to treat as malleus, since even the advance xenos have magic.  I guess that kind of goes along with all advanced science in 40K being tied into the warp.  If you do convert Masks, are you postion the conversions anywhere?

 

 

Salcor

[graver2 4]

I've been entertaining the idea of using Masks as a spring board though I've found that a good bit of altering and customizing is needed. Often times, it's easier to just use the CoC scenario as inspiration for a DH one since things work differently in the 40k verse then they do in the Mythos verse.

I've successfully adapted the Escape from Innsmouth to DH. I simply renamed Innsmouth to Port Deliverance and made it a district in Hive Sebillus which everyone avoided as it was on the brink (for 200 years) of sliding off into the underhive. I realize that a place like Spectoris would have been more inline with the whole Innsmouth stories, but I just know my players would have caught on to the Innsmouth thing in under 5 minutes under those circumstances. The Deepones were replaced with Slougth who were working some nefarious transgenetic heresy on the populace for the past 200 years through the Marshes. Devils Reef became the Layer of the Mother Worm, a lost and legendary part of the original pre-Imperial city of Sebillus buried deep under Port Deliverance in the tangle of the Underhive. The missing store manager was replaced by an undercover acolyte in my PC's Inquisitors employ posing as a census worker. The Marines were replaced by a mixed force of Arbiters and Scintillian Protectorate (the situation once uncovered was ruled too critical to wait for a detachment of Sisters for a full on proper purging). The backstory of the Marshes were intertwined with Erasmus Haarlock ('cause it seems like all the cool kids are doing that now ;-) ).  There were a LOT of other minor alterations I made to the events, locations, and NPC presented, to fit it into the 40k universe but, all in all, it worked quite well and spawned a rather long story arch as the PC's are now trying to figure out what the worm things were, how they got into Sebillus in the first place, and, all in all, asking a lot of why's to uncover the bigger conspiracy behind the corruption of Port Deliverance.

 

[Salcor 78]

Graver said:

I've been entertaining the idea of using Masks as a spring board though I've found that a good bit of altering and customizing is needed. Often times, it's easier to just use the CoC scenario as inspiration for a DH one since things work differently in the 40k verse then they do in the Mythos verse.

I've successfully adapted the Escape from Innsmouth to DH. I simply renamed Innsmouth to Port Deliverance and made it a district in Hive Sebillus which everyone avoided as it was on the brink (for 200 years) of sliding off into the underhive. I realize that a place like Spectoris would have been more inline with the whole Innsmouth stories, but I just know my players would have caught on to the Innsmouth thing in under 5 minutes under those circumstances. The Deepones were replaced with Slougth who were working some nefarious transgenetic heresy on the populace for the past 200 years through the Marshes. Devils Reef became the Layer of the Mother Worm, a lost and legendary part of the original pre-Imperial city of Sebillus buried deep under Port Deliverance in the tangle of the Underhive. The missing store manager was replaced by an undercover acolyte in my PC's Inquisitors employ posing as a census worker. The Marines were replaced by a mixed force of Arbiters and Scintillian Protectorate (the situation once uncovered was ruled too critical to wait for a detachment of Sisters for a full on proper purging). The backstory of the Marshes were intertwined with Erasmus Haarlock ('cause it seems like all the cool kids are doing that now ;-) ).  There were a LOT of other minor alterations I made to the events, locations, and NPC presented, to fit it into the 40k universe but, all in all, it worked quite well and spawned a rather long story arch as the PC's are now trying to figure out what the worm things were, how they got into Sebillus in the first place, and, all in all, asking a lot of why's to uncover the bigger conspiracy behind the corruption of Port Deliverance.

 

 

I may have to steal this, although the deeps ones interbreeding screams genestealer to me.  I am also looking at the Curse of Cthulhu campaign book.  Slaught for Mi-go.

 

Salcor

[RichH 0]

Personally I find the central themes of COC and W40K to be at odds with one another, and prefer to leave the Mythos out of my games. That doesn't stop me however stealing the occasional idea

 

Presently my group operate in a DG type cell structure, with orders coming down from there mysterious benefactor within the -I-. Presently there orders are to infiltrate the blackmarket on Scintilla and go about creating a series of dead drops and green rooms amongst the hive.

After reading the Menagerie in DOTDG, I immediately thought about the DG Scenario Night Floors, which if people are interested can be found here -> http://web.me.com/drgonzo/Site/Download.html Well worth a read if your after a adventure which plays on player paranoia.

I think practically any COC style adventure can be converted to DH, currently reading Mysteries of Mesoamerica and all of the scenerios there would do perfectly well set on a feral world. Oh yeah and Masks would be fantastic

[Luthor Harkon 13]

I already ran War Wounds with my group and am about to start Cold Tower. It really works very well, you just have to invest some work on the NPCs while the plot can be remain more or less the same. I am also working on the NPCs, agenda and substitute locations for Masks of N. at the moment.

[Salcor 78]

I am actually getting ready to run Frozen Assets as a lead in to Purge the Unclean with a few of the Spaced Marines adventures mixed in.

 

 

Salcor

[Mickymonty 0]

One of my all time favorite Cthulhu adventures has to be "the secret of Castronegro," where (typical CoC situation) a New Mexico town is controlled by a sorcerer who has lived above the town in a crumbling manse for over 300 years, intermitently faking his own demise and passing on his name to his supposed 'progeny.'  He eliminates anyone who takes an interest in his affairs or tries to investigate the nature of his community.  Most of the town have one of two surnames, related directly to him, and in some cases remarkably inbred.  He markets and sells Mythos items across the world from a little occult shop in the town.

He has made a formidable baddie over the years for a number of gaming groups, and I have always included an incident where a PC is drugged by the town doctor and put in a car and taken up towards the sinister home of the sorcerer.  However, during the journey the PC muscles out the back of the car and rolling down an embankment makes an escape.  The sorcerer, on finding out about the escape, dispaches some feral, regressed members of his extended family to hunt down the PC, involving a very unnerving pursuit through the forest with these howling lunatics rushing after.  This always unnerves the PC concerned, as does scratchings on their hotel window, someone sniping at them in the daytime, and a host of grotesque, and similar looking characters around the town, who all know the 'secret' - including the local priest, tobacconist, librarian, doctor etc...

It would convert well, as an 'enclosed' creepy environment into DH - with a latent chaotic psyker or somesuch, who controls the progeny of a remote settlement - corrupting and subverting the Imperial authorities, so corrupt Ministorum preachers, enforcers etc...  The feeling that the Acolytes are really 'on their own' would help convey the bleak nature of the 40K universe (something CoC strongly shares with DH) - and a confrontation with this menace head on the inevitable conclusion.  The scenario I have mentioned used to be in a supplement called the 'Asylum and Other tales' many years ago, but I believe was re-released under another title ten / fifteen years ago or so.

There are many other scenarios I remember equally fondly, but this one was a classic I felt compelled to mention, and a good one to convert.

[Varnias Tybalt 3]

Graver said:

I've been entertaining the idea of using Masks as a spring board though I've found that a good bit of altering and customizing is needed. Often times, it's easier to just use the CoC scenario as inspiration for a DH one since things work differently in the 40k verse then they do in the Mythos verse.

I've successfully adapted the Escape from Innsmouth to DH. I simply renamed Innsmouth to Port Deliverance and made it a district in Hive Sebillus which everyone avoided as it was on the brink (for 200 years) of sliding off into the underhive. I realize that a place like Spectoris would have been more inline with the whole Innsmouth stories, but I just know my players would have caught on to the Innsmouth thing in under 5 minutes under those circumstances. The Deepones were replaced with Slougth who were working some nefarious transgenetic heresy on the populace for the past 200 years through the Marshes. Devils Reef became the Layer of the Mother Worm, a lost and legendary part of the original pre-Imperial city of Sebillus buried deep under Port Deliverance in the tangle of the Underhive. The missing store manager was replaced by an undercover acolyte in my PC's Inquisitors employ posing as a census worker. The Marines were replaced by a mixed force of Arbiters and Scintillian Protectorate (the situation once uncovered was ruled too critical to wait for a detachment of Sisters for a full on proper purging). The backstory of the Marshes were intertwined with Erasmus Haarlock ('cause it seems like all the cool kids are doing that now ;-) ).  There were a LOT of other minor alterations I made to the events, locations, and NPC presented, to fit it into the 40k universe but, all in all, it worked quite well and spawned a rather long story arch as the PC's are now trying to figure out what the worm things were, how they got into Sebillus in the first place, and, all in all, asking a lot of why's to uncover the bigger conspiracy behind the corruption of Port Deliverance.

 

Sweet Emperor! Its scary who much alike we think!

However I have not realized the aventure yet, but i have been boggling with the idea for some time to convert Ecape from Innsmouth to Dark Heresy. But my take on it would include a Genestealer Cult instead of the Slaught, but im having some problems with converting the genestealers with the "haunted ocean theme" in Escape from Innsmouth. But I'll manage, somehow. Any helpful tips you could provide would be an Emperors blessing.

[bogi_khaosa 267]

I have enjoyed doing this myself. I think something should be kept in mind:

Call of Cthulhu combat is even more lethal than Dark Heresy combat. Actually, it's a lot more lethal, since not only do the characters not have Fate Points, instead of being Assassins and Guardsmen and Psykers armed with lasguns and bolters and equipped with armor, they are professors and antiquarians equipped with a .22 revolver and armored with nothing. So, direct conversion of the stats of a Byakhee, for instance, into DH would result in little more than glorified cannon fodder for most Acolytes.

[ComicJam 0]

You know, I never thought of this.

All you have to do is replace the word "Elder" with "Chaos" and you're sorted! I'm tempted to try the Escape from Innsmouth idea actually, and Graver, if you have any conversion notes, I'd be more than willing to read them.

Cheers!

[Luddite 38]

Funnily enough i'm currently using Beyond the Mountains of Madness as a possible inspiration for the Rogue Trader campaign i'm writing (ahead of getting the rules). 

I was going to use it as 'season 2' of my DH campaign but i'm probably dropping that in favour of Rogue Trader now...

CoC adventures are solid gold inspiration for DH, which is, lets face it, Delta Green in pauldrons...

In a similar vein, i've dug out my old Dark Conspiracy adventures to give them the once over too.